The present invention is directed to a formulation for a fried egg product and process to prepare a premium formulated fried egg for consumption by an individual. It is anticipated that the formulated fried egg product will be refrigerated and/or frozen for future heating within a microwave, convection oven or griddle for consumption as a stand alone food item or as a portion of a composite food article. The formulated fried egg has a texture and other sensory perceptions similar to a naturally fried egg.
In the past, formulated fried eggs have been formed by the filling of a mold with a liquid egg mixture and then cooking the liquid egg mixture within the mold. Many problems have arisen through the implementation of this processing methodology. Formulated fried eggs produced according to the above identified methods unfortunately have the appearance and taste of commercial processing. Frequently these food articles after cooking are extremely dense having poor viscosity. Formulated fried eggs cooked within a mold generally exhibit undesirable sensory perceptions related to the appearance, taste and texture as compared to a freshly fried egg. A need therefore exists to eliminate the dense commercial processing appearance and taste associated with a formulated fried egg product as cooked within a mold.
In the past procedures have generally not been implemented to rigorously control the processing and cooking parameters utilized to yield a formulated fried egg. A need exists to develop a formulated fried egg which is more appealing in appearance and taste and which is susceptible to freezing and reheating within a conventional or microwave heating prior to consumption by an individual.
In the past, the freezing and/or extended refrigeration of a formulated fried egg has lead led to a loss of a cohesive texture and the degradation of other sensory perceptions such as mouth feel, taste, elasticity, and/or the food product not being tender or appealing to an individual. Another common problem encountered during delayed consumption, extended refrigeration and/or freezing of a formulated fried egg is that the food product exhibits syneresis, or the loss of water when frozen and reheated, or when stored for an extended period of time.
In the past, temperature variations during the cooking procedure for the formulated fried eggs have caused a degradation in the viscosity, loss of elasticity, and have resulted is a non-smooth, non-cohesive texture. In addition, temperature variations have caused the formulated fried egg to be not tender and fail to easily fracture and break during attempts to rupture the egg yolk portion of the formulated fried egg. The cooking of the formulated fried egg at an elevated temperature, to minimize the duration of the cooking time, frequently results in the burning and degradation of the texture of the formulated fried egg. Also, during rapid cooking the formulated fried eggs easily dehydrate and form a crust which is unappealing to an individual.
The rate of cooking of the formulated fried eggs and the temperature of the oven, or other cooking vessel, also frequently cause the formation of an excessive volume of air bubbles, which in turn, interrupt the structure of the formulated fried egg destroying the smooth, cohesive texture. The loss of a smooth cohesive texture causes an undesirable mouth feel when consumed by an individual. The existence of undesirable and/or excessive air bubbles may also occur when the pH of the formulated fried eggs is at an improper level, preventing the egg whites from retaining carbon dioxide as carbonic acid. The reduction in the amount of carbon dioxide and/or carbonic acid causes the mixing and/or shearing of the egg whites during processing due to undesirable gas entrapment.
In the past the cooking of formulated fried eggs has frequently caused an iron-sulfide greening reaction resulting in undesirable coloration and a degradation in the taste for the egg product.
It is also desirable to provide a formulated fried egg which is natural in appearance. In the past formulated fried eggs have included a symmetrically located egg yolk portion as centrally positioned within a substantially round egg white portion. These types of formulated fried eggs do not appear to be natural. Natural fried eggs experience random yolk positioning and non-symmetrical egg white portions.
The known formulated fried egg processing techniques frequently cause freezing and/or thawing damage to frozen eggs and fail to retain the egg yolk portions in a semi-liquid state after freezing and subsequent thawing and heating. As a result the egg yolk portions of the known formulated fried eggs have not readily fractured, have not provided a semi-liquid state, nor have provided a desired elastic texture.